Man Used as a Poster Child for NY Bail Reforms Arrested on Attempted Murder Warrant

The police arrested career criminalPedro Hernandez, 22, on an attempted murder warrant. From The New York Post:

Hernandez was tracked down by cops and arrested when plans to have him surrender after nearly a month on the lam fell through, sources said.He was charged with attempted murder, attempted assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.Hernandez was being sought on an attempted-murder charge stemming from an Aug. 28 shooting outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral during a dispute over a three-card monte game.

This is what allegedly happened:

In the latest case, Hernandez allegedly tried his hand at three-card monte — a notoriously rigged urban sidewalk hustle — around 5:45 p.m. Aug. 28 and lost cash and a gold chain.Irate over his loss, he followed the two men pulling off the hustle to their red Mercedes-Benz and fired a single shot into the vehicle — then chased the car in his own black BMW, cops said.The chase ended up at the parking garage of the Palace Hotel, where one of the three-card monte operators dropped his cash and jewelry on the ground before running off.Hernandez then allegedly grabbed his items off the ground and left the scene — and cops had been looking for him since.

Hernandez’s arrest is significant because, in 2015, New York criminal justice advocates used Hernandez as their poster child to change bail laws.

The advocates fought for Hernandez’s release when he couldn’t make $250,000 bail for a 2015 shooting charge when he was 15 years old. In 2017, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights charity paid his reduced bail of $100,000.

A witness got cold feet, so the Bronx prosecutors had to drop the case.

But Hernandez didn’t go away. He’s been arrested five times since 2017: “He was busted four times for driving with a suspended license and other motor vehicle offenses, authorities said. He was also nabbed for slashing a person during a Bronx robbery in 2019, police said.”

More from The New York Post:

According to the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, Hernandez was out on bail on his three cases in the borough at the time of the St. Patrick’s incident.He posted bail set at $15,000 in cash or a $25,000 bond in a pending felony case and $750 bail in one of two misdemeanor cases.He was free without bail in the second misdemeanor.

“New York Democrats are more interested in giving violent criminals another chance to terrorize law-abiding citizens than ensuring New York communities are safe,” said NRCC spokeswoman Samantha Bullock.

Tags: Crime, New York, New York City, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY